The Private View: Fairytales of Ireland 1916-2016

"The most talked about debut of the year" – Sunday Independent

The director of the award-winning Little Museum of Dublin reveals the dirty little secrets of Irish history in a superb new play about the Easter Rising of 1916.

Who does the past belong to? And what does it mean to be a patriot today? These questions are explored in this remarkable new play about John Lowe, an English soldier who was present at the surrender of Patrick Pearse at the end of Ireland’s Easter Rising in 1916.

After changing his name to John Loder, he went on to become a movie star in Hollywood. Today, however, John Loder is remembered only for marrying Hedy Lamarr, the Angelina Jolie of her generation.

Trevor White sets out to celebrate Lowe/Loder, but celebration is harder than it sounds, as we soon discover in this provocative and amusing new play about Hollywood, heroism and history.

Directed by Gerard Stembridge, the play now travels to New York after a sell-out run at the Dublin Theatre Festival. "This is a play about the abuses of memory and the true meaning of heroism," says Trevor White. "But it also explores what it means to be patriotic today."